Hurricane Wilma forces postponement of Georgia Tech game against Miami

Posted: Wednesday, October 19, 2005

ATLANTA - Score one for the hurricane.

The storm, not the football team.

Hurricane Wilma, which built into the most intense Atlantic storm on record overnight Tuesday, has forced the postponement of the Georgia Tech-Miami game scheduled for noon Saturday at the Orange Bowl.

The game has been rescheduled for Nov. 19 in Miami.

Georgia Tech athletic director Dave Braine, Miami athletic director Paul Dee and representatives from the Atlantic Coast Conference and ABC and ESPN came to the decision during a Wednesday morning teleconference.

"It was not a difficult decision," Braine said. "It's just a game. I think everybody has learned from Katrina that the sooner you take precautionary measures, the better off you are."

Forecasters project the storm will make landfall in Florida early Sunday morning.

Wilma was packing winds of 175 mph Wednesday, making it a Category 5 storm. Hurricanes are rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with five being the strongest. A storm must have maximum sustained winds of at least 155 mph to be a Category 5.

Only three Category 5 storms made landfall in the United States since it became possible to measure them, according to the National Hurricane Center. The last Category 5 to hit Florida was 1992's Hurricane Andrew.

"The projected course of Hurricane Wilma shows that if it stays on its current path, it will have a direct affect on the safety of numerous student-athletes, institutional personnel, fans and Florida residents," said John Swofford, the ACC's commissioner. "Our top priority is the issue of public safety for everyone, and we would not want a college football game to interfere with the preparation work to be done by the public safety and emergency personnel."

The postponed game is Georgia Tech's first since 2001, when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks forced the move of a game against Florida State.

The Yellow Jackets (4-2 overall, 2-2 ACC) next game is Oct. 29 against Clemson. The game kicks off at noon at Bobby Dodd Stadium and will be televised on ESPN2.

The postponement of the Miami game should benefit the injury-riddled Jackets. Two players, defensive tackle Joe Anoai and safety Djay Jones, were expected to miss this weekend's game while several others, including tailback P.J. Daniels, wide receiver Pat Clark and cornerback Jamal Lewis, planned to play through minor injuries suffered last week against Duke.

"We do have quite a few guys banged up, so it's nice in that respect to get guys a little bit more treatment, a little bit more rehab," said Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, who added Anoai and Jones have a "good chance" of being healthy enough to play against Clemson. "Hopefully, we'll be healthier as we walk into the stadium next Saturday."